Said It Here

How hard is it to convert a walk-in shower back to a bathtub?

Converting a walk-in shower back to a bathtub requires a massive amount of labor, including tearing out the wet walls, subfloor, and surrounding flooring because matching existing tiles and grout is nearly impossible. This invasive process often uncovers hidden damage once walls are opened and forces homeowners into a much larger, more complex renovation than initially planned.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Using a large bucket or a tote to wash kids inside the shower
  2. 2
    Installing a shower head with a hand attachment
  3. 3
    Hiring a professional contractor to do the renovation

In their words

Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.

“It's a lot of work. Realistically have to rip out a strip of flooring that abuts the shower/tub, rip out the wet wall (probably all 3 as you won't have exact match tiles & grout to just do one wall), rip out subfloor, redo the drain, redo the supply, put on new subfloor, set tub, put on new waterproofing, redo tiles, redo floor where it meets up with tub.”source ↗

ForceintheNorth · r/HomeImprovement · 3 upvotes

“Definitely doable, but sounds like one of those projects that gets bigger once you open the walls 😭”source ↗

Wise_Amphibian_9491 · r/HomeImprovement · 3 upvotes

“Hello, the previous homeowners took out a bathtub and put this walk in shower in. I have little ones so I want to rip this out and put a bathtub back in.”source ↗

Zeeboy94 · r/HomeImprovement

Where this came up

r/HomeImprovementbathroom remodelinghome improvementplumbing

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